Thursday, January 7, 2016

Ericsson has launched the User & IoT Data Analytics solution to help operators improve internal efficiency in managing data from subscribers and Internet of Things (IoT) devices while exploring new cross-vertical IoT applications. The goal is to help operators extract unique insights from user and connected device behaviors, as well as from network resource usage. The solution also allows controlled access to, and exposure of, data for consumers and industry applications.

The User & IoT Data Analytics solution consolidates user and IoT device data in a common database. It provides safe network access to any type of device, whether cellular or non-cellular-based, and enables operators to perform real-time data analytics based on a new embedded functionality in the subscriber data management system. The solution is based on the proven Ericsson User Data Consolidation (UDC) offering, including the Centralized User Database (CUDB) and the User Profile Gateway (UPG) components.

“The launch of the User & IoT Data Analytics solution is an important step in Ericsson’s commitment to the IoT – and toward realizing our vision of the Networked Society. Ericsson User Data Consolidation already manages subscriber data in the billions and with this new solution we will help operators to grow and monetize data assets for new services on the growing IoT market,” stated Jan Häglund, Vice President and Head of Product Area Network Analytics & Control, Ericsson.

Facebook reported that 800 million people now use Messenger each month.

In Facebook postings, Mark Zuckerberg said Messenger and WhatsApp will diverge over time, with Messenger adding many more features to make it an intelligent communications platform.

He also noted progress in the company's effort to deliver Internet access from solar-powered planes and satellites using lasers. Facebook is also making progress in its AI efforts, especially with computer vision.https://www.facebook.com/zuck?fref=ts

The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced the "Wi-Fi HaLow" designation for products incorporating IEEE 802.11ah technology, which targets a variety of new power-efficient use cases in the Smart Home, connected car, and digital healthcare, as well as industrial, retail, agriculture, and Smart City environments.

Wi-Fi HaLow operates in frequency bands below one gigahertz, offering longer range, lower power connectivity to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products. Its range is nearly twice that of current Wi-Fi, and will not only be capable of transmitting signals further, but also providing a more robust connection in challenging environments where the ability to more easily penetrate walls or other barriers is an important consideration.

“Wi-Fi HaLow is well suited to meet the unique needs of the Smart Home, Smart City, and industrial markets because of its ability to operate using very low power, penetrate through walls, and operate at significantly longer ranges than Wi-Fi today,” said Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi HaLow expands the unmatched versatility of Wi-Fi to enable applications from small, battery-operated wearable devices to large-scale industrial facility deployments – and everything in between.”

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) selected Level 3 Communications for a multiple-year competitive contract known as Global Network Services (GNS).
The contract allows Level 3 to bid on and provide communications services to support DISA's goal of providing a single global network including both wired and wireless technologies by 2020. The contract has a five-year base period and five one-year option periods.

For the fifth consecutive year, CoreSite has achieved portfolio-wide uptime exceeding 99.9999 percent, or “six 9s”, across its platform of data center facilities.

Six 9s availability is equivalent to unscheduled downtime of less than 32 seconds per year against CoreSite’s 100 percent uptime service level agreement. By contrast, five 9s uptime correlates to downtime exceeding five minutes annually. When compared to five 9s, six 9s availability provides businesses with nearly 10 times the statistical reliability in the data center environment. Operating at such a high level of availability and reliability is paramount in today’s high-tech marketplace, underscoring the critical importance of enabling information and communications technology capabilities.

“We are once again pleased that our focus on operational excellence and the professionalism of our Field Operations organization has resulted in our achievement of six 9s uptime across our national platform of highly connected, cloud-enabled, enterprise-class data centers,” said Tom Ray, CEO at CoreSite. “We take pride in delivering high-performance data center and interconnection solutions, all supported by best-in-class customer service, to enable business performance.”

MobileIron announced that Barry Mainz has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and named to its board of directors. He replaces founding CEO Bob Tinker, who will remain on MobileIron's board.

Barry Mainz most was recently the President of Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel. Prior to joining Wind River, Barry spent more than 15 years in sales leadership roles at a number of technology companies including Mercury Interactive, Sun Microsystems, and Seagate Technology.

MobileIron also announced strong preliminary results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 ended December 31, 2015.

Vantage Data Centers has broken ground on a new six megawatt building on its Santa Clara campus. The six megawatt facility is targeted for completion in Q4 2016, bringing total capacity of the Santa Clara campus to more than 50 megawatts of critical load. The new two-story building, referred to as V4, will sit adjacent to the existing V1 facility. V4 will feature outside air economization to deliver ultra-low PUEs and will run a fully redundant 2N electrical system. This new building will add 43,000 total square feet, including 30,000 square feet of white space, to the Vantage Santa Clara campus.

Vantage Data Centers reported a record year in 2015, closing several deals with existing and new customers on the largest wholesale data center campus in Silicon Valley.

“Zayo continues to experience very healthy demand for colocation and data center services in the Dallas region,” said Greg Friedman, executive vice president of Colocation and Cloud Infrastructure at Zayo. “We are able to offer customers benefits that go beyond traditional data center services and include access to our high-performance network and robust communications infrastructure.”http://www.zayo.com